For the first time all season, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team has endured a three-game losing streak. After entering the month of February in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten, they now sit in third behind the University of Illinois and Purdue University, with two games separating UW and the Boilermakers.
While most Badger fans could stomach the losses to No. 2 ranked Purdue and a University of Nebraska team that has only lost once at home, Wednesday’s loss to a University of Michigan team — who entered the contest 1-10 in their last 11 — was much tougher to swallow.
Similar to the Purdue game, UW fell behind midway through the first half and — in large part due to poor shotmaking — couldn’t climb out of the hole.
Guard AJ Storr led the Badgers with 20 points (7-for-14 FG, 1-for-4 3Pt, 5-for-5 FT) while point guard Chucky Hepburn poured in 17 points — his most since the season opener against Arkansas State. Forward Tyler Wahl built off his impressive showing against Purdue, notching 12 points, four rebounds and three steals.
For the Wolverines, Dug McDaniel scored 16 points and Tarris Reed Jr. collected 11 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
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After making their first two 3-point attempts, UW missed 14 of their 17 other attempts from deep and failed to make a deep ball for the first 15 minutes of the second period. The Badgers finished the contest 5-for-29 on jumpers.
Instead, Wisconsin was forced to play from the interior, outscoring Michigan 40–20 inside the paint, but got out-rebounded 34–28 and had five of their shot attempts blocked. But, like when they faced Purdue, UW went through spurts of heavy jump shooting.
Coming out of halftime down 37–33, the Badgers’ first seven second-half buckets were layups and pushed the team to a four-point advantage — their largest of the evening. Their next five offensive possessions ended in four missed 3-pointers and a turnover as part of an 8–0 Michigan run — one that eventually ballooned into a 16–4 run.
With 2:05 to play, Storr brought the difference to three following a layup, but UW was unable to make a field goal in the closing two minutes, ultimately falling 72–68.
During their three-game skid, the Badgers are 18-for-69 (26.1 percent) from beyond the arc and have averaged 13.0 turnovers per game. UW’s scoring is also down nearly six points to 69.7 ppg after averaging 75.6 points during their first 20 games.
Up next for Wisconsin is a road date with Rutgers University on Saturday before returning to the Kohl Center to face Ohio State University on Tuesday.
